Transcript
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Come on, Jesus. Everybody say Ephesians. If you got a Bible, go to Ephesians chapter four.
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Whoo.
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Boomer.
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Yeah.
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Let's go. For everyone that's not from Oklahoma, we have a team called the Sooners, and they are winning right now. And it's a great time to be a Sooner fan. But in Ephesians chapter four, we left off last week on the Peter Pan syndrome that it's time to grow up spiritually, that God is calling us to spiritually mature. I want to welcome our online campus, our Victory North, Victory Manford campus out there. Everyone that's tuning in online all over the world, we're so glad you're with us today. But today I want to talk to you about who's at the door. Tell the person next to you who's at the door? Who's at the door? Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. Who's at the door? And I want to emphasize Ephesians 4, verse 27, verse 27. This is what Paul says. He says, and do not give the devil a foothold. Shut the door on the devil. Shut the front door. Y' all are like, okay, I'm awake. What is. What is happening right now? Shut the door on the devil. I need to illustrate this for a moment. I need somebody to play the part of the devil. And you're going to try to get into this church through this door over here. We got a door over here. Who wants to be the devil for a second? None of y' all are the devil. You're all Jesus. Will you hop up here and play that part? Thank you so much. Give this mighty man of God a hand. He doesn't know what he's getting himself into. We're literally just doing this on the moment. What's your name again? Maroc. Come on, Maroc. Give it up for Maroc. Okay, you come out here, and you're gonna come out there. And here's what. I want you to knock on that door pretty loud so we can all hear you. Give us a knock. Everybody say, who's at the door? All right, now, this is what happens so often in our life. We just open it up. Come on in, Marat. And we just let whoever's at the door come on in. And we don't check to see what are they bringing and who are they anyways? What are they bringing into my house and who are they? Step out just one more time. Sometimes before we even check, knock one more time, Maroc. We don't even check. We don't even ask. We just Kind of open it. And as soon as we open it, put your foot right there. He's got a foothold. That foothold is a position that all he needs. Now I'm gonna close the door just a little bit, but keep your foot right there. As long as his foot is in the crack. I don't know if the camera's catching this. Is the camera getting this? Okay. As long as his foot is right there in that crack, he has the ability and the power to. To get in. All he needs is a foothold. And can I tell you something? Thank you so much. Marrot. Give him a big hand one more time. All the devil needs is just a crack in the door to bring whatever he wants to bring in. What Paul's about to tell us is that there is a spiritual battle for you and I to pull us into our old way of life before we met Christ, B.C. before we decided to be born again and accept Jesus in our heart and accept this new life. That there is this constant pull to go back into the old way of living. And so I want to back up to verse 17 because this tells us what are we actually asking about this door, who's at the door, and what they're trying to bring. In verse 17, Paul says this. I insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do in the futility of their thinking. So Paul is saying there's an old way of life that you used to be a part of before you accepted Christ. Everybody say before Christ, all of us have a BC and some of you are here today and you're still living in B.C. and you're in the right place because you're about to accept Christ. I believe today you're on a journey of surrender and someone invited you to church. And maybe you came to find a girlfriend, or maybe you came to find a boyfriend, or maybe you came because you had nothing to do. But let me tell you something. You're here on purpose because you have a purpose. And God's about to change your life. Paul says once we accept this new life in Christ, we've got to realize that the old way of life no longer suits us. The old way, the way we used to live, all the stuff we used to do, it's no longer a part of our future. You can't step into your future until you let go of your past. And Paul's saying that former way of life, Everybody say, former way of life, it's no longer for you. In verse 18, he says the way that you used to live, the way that people live without Christ is people who are darkened in their understanding. So there's two things that I noticed right off the bat. In verse 17 and verse 18. Futile thinking, darkened understanding. Both of these have to do with the mind. Now, I spent about 10 years writing a book all about the mind called Mind Games. How many have ever read Mind Games? Shameless. Plug, go get the book. Okay. I believe in the words in that book because the Bible teaches us that as we think, so are we. As a man thinketh, so is he. Our thoughts. And what goes on in our mind determines the course of our life. If we have futile thinking, if we have a darkened understanding, it's gonna lead to a dark way of living. So if I live with a, you know, open door to say, hey, you know what? Any lustful thought that wants to come into my mind is welcome. Here's the open door. Any perverted thought, any dirty thought, any dark thought is welcome. As I think, so am I. The longer those thoughts sit in my mind, it's only a matter of time before those thoughts begin to play out in my life. The Bible teaches us that our thoughts determine the direction and the course of our life. This is why Romans chapter 12 says, if you want to transform your life, you got to renew your mind. Everybody say, renew your mind. So Paul's saying here, he's saying, listen, there is someone at the door, and it's not always Jesus. We do know in the book of Revelation that Jesus stands at the door and he knocks. And if anyone would open the door and let him in, he will come and he will change your life. And by the way, you don't have to have a perfect life for Jesus to change you. Jesus is looking for dirty, open, broken, surrendered men and women that are ordinary. They got issues, they got problems. And he says, you don't have to clean up to come to Jesus. You can come to Jesus and he'll clean you up. I'm so thankful that we don't card you at the door. Like, what sins did you commit this week? Okay, you're allowed in. You only lied a little bit. No, no, no. We're a church that says, come. Come as you are. Come in your sin, come in your shame, come in your dirt, and let the Holy Spirit change you. We're not a church that only allows, you know, the. You know, people that are perfect. This is a great church for imperfect people. If you're. If you're still growing in Christ, you're in the right place. Today, if you've already arrived and graduated, we want to be like you. You're perfect. You're awesome. But how many? All are still a work in progress. That's most of us. Yeah, like the roads of Oklahoma, still under construction. I'm gonna say it every week until our roads get fixed. Okay? We're still working on these highways. We're still working on our life. And Paul says, don't go back to that old way of thinking, that futile thinking, that darkened understanding. Don't just allow the enemy to set up camp in your mind and do whatever you want to do. This is what it goes on to say. Stay on verse 18. He says this having darkened understanding, they are separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Now, I'm not saying somebody's ignorant. Paul's saying they're ignorant. Not this Paul, Paul the Apostle. And he's saying, really, the truth is, we've all been in a place of ignorance where we didn't know that everything we were doing was hurting us as much as it was hurting us. That we didn't realize how much gossip was destroying our life, how much slander, how much junk, how much these thoughts and these words and these actions and the sexual perversion, sleeping with whoever, doing whatever. Paul says all of this stuff has hardened their hearts where they have no sensitivity. By the way, one of the greatest gifts we can have as a Christian is sensitivity, the ability to feel. Paul says they've lost the ability to feel. Their heart has grown so hardened through all the pain and all the sin and all the junk and all the stuff they've been doing. They don't even cry anymore. They cuss somebody out and they don't even feel bad. They cheat their neighbor and they don't even feel wrong for it. It's like there's no conviction, no sensitivity. It's just a hardened heart. And Paul says, that's not you. Paul says, it's a good thing to have conviction. It's a good thing to feel bad for doing something wrong. That means you're a Christian. That means you've got a conscience, a Holy Spirit that's saying, hey, you shouldn't have reacted the way you did. You shouldn't have kept on thinking the way you were thinking. Like, that's the Holy Spirit at the door saying, let me in and let me change you. Let me continue to work in every area of your life. And by the way, you can let God into your heart, but you could keep some doors inside your heart closed. There's not just one door to your heart. If you ever saw the movie Beauty and the Beast, there's that one room. He's like, don't go into the west wing. You remember the Beast, he's like, you're allowed to go all through the house, but you can't go into that one room. You can't have access to that one room. And she's like, what's in that room? And that was the room where the rose petals were falling. He didn't want her to have access to that one door because that one door was the darkest part of his heart. But that was the one door that would need the most change. And you can let Jesus into your heart, but keep certain rooms closed. Like Jesus, you have access to all of me, except for 10% of me, except for the west wing, except for the northern part, except for the part about how I feel towards my dad, how I feel towards my ex, about the junk that I look at on the Internet. You can have access to all of me on Sunday, but Monday is mine, Friday nights are mine at the club. Whatever I want to do on Saturday. Paul says in order to have a real transformed life, you got to give God access to all the doors. All the doors, all the rooms. Paul says they're darkened in their understanding. They're separated from the life of God, but that's not you. In verse 19 he goes on to say this. Because they've gotten so hard in their hearts, they've lost all sensitivity. They've lost all sensitivity. He's describing what it was like when you didn't have Jesus at the center of your heart. He says, they've lost all sensitivity. They've given themselves over. Now giving themselves over is like opening the door when Morocc was standing at the door knocking and I opened. That's giving him access. Now the translation for this right here is actual territory. The devil wants territory in your family. The devil wants territory in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The devil wants territory in north Tulsa, east Tulsa, west Tulsa, south Tulsa. The devil wants territory in your generational legacy. So the alcohol and the drugs and the sleeping around, it's not just affecting you. The enemy's like, oh, I'm going after your grandkids. Like for you, you could keep this a little secret, you can keep it on the side, but 40 years down the road, the enemy's looking at territory. He's like, I'm going to destroy your grandkids life. So you as a 30 year old man you keep on doing your little secret sins. I'm not really into. The devil's in no hurry to destroy you. If he could just keep on playing games, taking territory from you. He'll keep you alive so he could destroy your future generations. And he'll keep you in chains. He'll keep you addicted and afflicted and tormented and depressed. Is this too heavy for Sunday morning? Come on, we're going into freedom's towns. We're going to get free. Paul says they've lost all sensitivity. They've given themselves over. They've opened the door to sensuality so as to indulge in whatever kind of impure feelings, thoughts they have. And they're full of greed. Somehow greed is connected to yielding and opening your life up to whatever your flesh wants. Greed is that feeling of it's never enough, never enough, never, never, never enough, never. Three of us know the song, okay? But greed is basically saying, I want more money, I want more fame, I want more followers, I want more of this, I want more of that. I want more of what the world has to. I want more pleasure, I want that feeling, I want that high, I want that buzz, I want that, I want that. And I'll never have enough. So even if I get the most I could get tonight, I need more tomorrow night. And greed promises you that you're gonna be fulfilled, but then you're not fulfilled. You want more and more and more. And it leads to coveting and wanting what someone else has and the envy of other people's stuff. And I gotta have it. And this is why Paul flips the script here. He says, all of that stuff is no longer what you're going to be like. In verse 20 says, that, however, is not the way of life you learn. Everybody say, who's at the door? Paul says, I got something else for you. I got a better way. I got a new way to be human. I got a new way to live for you. You don't have to open the door to the devil. You don't have to give him a foothold. You don't have to give over to your flesh. You don't have to live in the shame of how many times you blew it and messed up. Though a righteous man falls seven times, he will get back up again. Paul says, I've got a new way to live. And it's a way of grace and a way of truth and a way of morality that's gonna lead to righteousness and holiness and purity. And at the end of the day, you're actually gonna be happy and joyful, not just good for a moment. Cause sin keeps you longer than you wanna stay, costs you more than you wanna pay. Promises to make you feel good at the end of the day, but leaves you high and Dr. Dry and empty. And Paul says, I got something better. Everybody say something better is at the door. So Paul says this, that is not the way of life. You learned verse 21 when you heard about Christ and you were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. And just circle that word, truth, truth. Because truth can sound like hate to those who hate the truth. If I tell you gossip is just as wicked in God's eyes as lust, some people go, well, I don't know, that kind of sounds harsh, Paul, because I do like to gossip a little bit and I'm not as dirty as some of these other lustful sinners around here. And Jesus says, hey, if you, if you gossip, if you sit and talk bad about other people, you're just as much a sinner as the person that sinned sexually. And you go, well, this just feels really harsh, you putting like the morals out there. That's what truth is. Jesus came to give us truth and the truth will set us free. Now we can't produce our righteousness by following all the rules. Our righteousness comes through Jesus blood on the cross. Our salvation is not earned by being good enough people. Our salvation is received by faith, through grace in Jesus Christ. So I am saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, but I am not saved, saved without a purpose. I am saved on purpose, for a purpose. And that purpose is to live for Jesus, not to live for myself. Paul says, you've been saved not because you were good enough. Not because you didn't lie, cheat, steal, do all the wrong stuff. You were saved because Jesus died on the cross for you. And Paul says he died on the cross to save you. Not just so that one day you could barely slip into heaven while you continue to live a very carnal life on earth. But he died to save you, so that you could live a life of heaven on earth, so that you could live a life with purpose, so that you could change the way you're living. Out of the darkness into the light. And by the way, this happens through the renewing of our mind. So Paul says in verse 21, he says, this is the truth that we have in Christ. Verse 22, you were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self. Put off the old you, put off the old Way of things. You know, I think about how today I put on this suit jacket, right? And I intentionally put it on as a decision. I'm gonna wear this. And Paul says, in the same way that you put on your clothes, those words put on. He's literally saying, put on the mind of Christ. Put on compassion today. Put off the lustful way of thinking. Put off the gossip, the slander, the revenge, the need to be bitter at people and stay resentful towards people. Take it off. He says, literally, you can be intentional every day to say, I am done wearing the old outfit that kept me in bondage. I am done. I'm laying it at the altar. Speaking of altar, last night I was doing a wedding, and this couple was getting married in Arkansas, and I was in their backyard. They had an altar. It was a beautiful, beautiful wedding. Members of our church, they drive every week, two hours to come to church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, because the father of the bride, he was working at a construction site at Walmart three years ago, and he saw a sign that said, victory, and he said, I need to go into that place. He came in, gave his heart at the altar to Jesus, brought his family back. Their family has been reached and impacted through this church. And last night, I'm in their backyard doing their wedding, and we're looking out at this open field, and it hits me as the bride and the groom are standing at the altar at this wedding. And I said, don't let this be the last time you stand at the altar together. Because what keeps a marriage strong is not flawlessness from your wife or from your husband, because your husband and wife are going to miss it sometimes. Where's the married people at? How many of y' all have ever missed it with your spouse? If you didn't raise your hand, your spouse will gladly lift your hand up for you and carry you to the altar today. The truth is, we've all missed it. We've said things we shouldn't have said. We've thought things we shouldn't have thought. We've reacted in ways we shouldn't. I was so impulsive. I was so impatient. I was rude. I was harsh. The way I said that. I shouldn't have acted that way. And you know what? That's good to be sensitive, to feel that conviction. Don't be prideful and act like I'm never wrong. I'm the most perfect spouse that has ever existed. Pride puts you in the category of Lucifer, and I don't think he lasted very long. Pride comes before a fall. But there's something about humility. I looked at the husband and wife, the bride and the groom, and I said, you're at the altar, literally at the altar, saying your vows to each other. I said, I remember doing this 16 years ago with my wife. And I said, you know, the truth is, the best marriages that I've met are marriages that continue to practice going to the altar together. Now, that doesn't mean you have to go every Sunday to the altar at Victory, but make an altar in your house of humility, that when you miss it, you apologize. When you do something or say something or think something that wasn't right, that you own it and say, hey, I'm a work in progress. I'm gonna keep growing in who God's called me to be. That's what Paul's talking about here. He's saying, there's a new way to live, and it's not perfection. It's aiming with a purpose and humility to do what God's called you to do. It's getting rid of the former way of life where you had a hardened heart, darkened mind, futile thinking, doing whatever your flesh craved, whatever you wanted. And he said, now you're getting rid of that old you. The old you needs to die. You need to have the death of you today, the death of me, so that the birth of Christ in me can flourish. Something in me needs to die. I remember sitting in a room one time with a group of pastors, and I felt this word from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was like, paul, you need to have a funeral for some stuff in your life. I had been comparing myself to other pastors, and in many ways, I had gotten pulled into this feeling of lesser than and comparison and inferiority and insecurity and measuring myself against other people. And I felt the Lord say, you need to have a funeral for the need to be like them. You need to have a funeral for the need to be just like your dad. Or the need to have people look at you the way they looked at your dad. You need to die to the selfish, insecure desires in your heart that are still alive. Now, that's access to a room. That's me opening the door to the Holy Spirit, saying, holy Spirit, I think there's some ugly stuff that needs to be worked on in here. And I'm sitting in that room, and I heard the Lord say, like, you need to have a funeral. And I was like, okay, I guess I gotta go get a coffin. And, you know, in my mind, I'm literally thinking, like, what does this mean? It means that I genuinely bring it to the altar and say, God, I've been carrying around a corpse, trying to live as a saved, mighty man of God while still trying to hold on to insecure. Futile thinking, darkened understanding, hardened heart, insecure comparison. And I'm literally saying, God, I'm ready to bury this. I'm ready to bury this, and I don't want to go back to the graveyard. When I was younger, my mom bought me a hamster, and it was like, my favorite little pet. And one day, my hamster had a heart attack. I was watching, literally in front of me. The hamster just went and just fell down and died. And I'm sorry, if that's a trigger for any of y' all in the room, please forgive me. But the hamster died and just literally fell down. And I remember just like, oh, my goodness, I just witnessed the death of my hamster. I told my parents, I'm crying. They were like, paul, it's going to be okay. You know, maybe God will have him one day in heaven. We don't know, you know, like, don't get into the theology. If my hamster's in heaven, okay, I want to believe he is. But I asked my mom, all dogs go to heaven. Hamsters, maybe. I asked my mom. I said, mom, can I mount my hamster on the wall? She said, why would you want to do that? He's dead. I said, I just want to remember him. She said, that's weird and not right. She was like, we're not going to have any dead stuff in our house. Got me thinking, I wonder what dead stuff is in your house. My mom said, no, you're gonna have a funeral for the hamster. I know you're nostalgic about all the memories with this little guy. Some of us are so nostalgic about our former way of life. We're like, oh, I just want to keep it with me. Can I just keep the corpse in the house? Can I just keep going back to the casinos and just doing whatever I want to do? Can I just keep getting wasted and sleeping around with whoever I want to sleep with? Can I just give into the old way? Like, I know I'm saved. I mean, I am saved, but I just want to keep the corpse with me. I just want to live in both. The truth is, all of us in this room, we have, like, a good side of us and a not so good side of us. Paul says it in Romans, chapter seven. He says, the flesh battle between my spirit and what My flesh. My flesh craves to do what it shouldn't do. And don't act like you don't have a flesh.
